Robin Scott9 said:The eczema has been hanging around for about 7 years now. It settles down in the summer, then goes wild again once winter hits.
As for my urine tests, they’ve mostly been fine, though occasionally they flag "some mucus" or "some bacteria."
Regarding triglycerides—unfortunately, I didn't stick to those dietary rules (don't blame me, nobody actually told me).
I've had several thyroid panels done over the years, and everything comes back normal, except for that TSH which occasionally creeps into the H zone.
Then there's the iron issue. This has been a headache for 10 or 15 years. The first time was a serious deficit—if I recall correctly, levels were at 3, and nobody bothered to dig deeper. I take iron supplements for a while, then pause, and it just repeats in a cycle. Other than that, my Vitamin D is pretty low; it was 29 during the first test (should be 75+). I’ve been supplementing, and I should be getting a follow-up check this week.
Exercise? Mostly, yes. I wouldn't call myself an elite athlete, but I play basketball and hit the gym 3 or 4 times a week. Sometimes I'll take a few months off before jumping back in. I use protein supplements.
In terms of symptoms, aside from the low iron, everything was perfectly normal until about 6 or 7 years ago. That's when I went on antibiotics for H. pylori, and my digestive issues started—pale, bulky stools (which have basically persisted to this day). Around that same time, likely as a consequence, my skin issues kicked in whenever I caught a cold heading into winter—redness, itching, burning, and peeling. They flare up through the winter and calm down in the summer. As a result (or so I suspect), I get inflamed lymph nodes in my neck.
On the digestive front, I've had a few gastroscopies. Celiac disease was ruled out, but SIBO was confirmed via breath test. We tried treating it twice with antibiotics, but the problem is we never found the root cause of the SIBO, so it just came right back.
Beyond all that, I deal with significant fatigue and a total lack of energy.
You need to get your ferritin checked. That TSH level suggests subclinical hypothyroidism, which needs annual monitoring, but personally, I’d ask for anti-TPO testing too. Leukocytosis can happen if you smoke, but given the eosinophilia and basophilia, it's almost certainly tied to skin atopy. Stick to a lipid-lowering diet for at least three weeks, and I’d also recommend taking high-EPA omega-3 esters. The changes in stool and the rash immediately made me wonder if we were looking at dermatitis herpetiformis or celiac disease, but since that was ruled out—I hope they checked for tissue transglutaminase antibodies, though a definitive celiac diagnosis really requires a duodenal biopsy and pathology report.